May 29, 2017

Entertainment May 29, 2017

Box Office Report: 'Pirates’ Sails Through International Waters While ‘Baywatch’ Is Beached

Here’s your estimated 3-day box office returns (new releases bolded):

1. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales – $77.0 million ($77.0 million total)

2. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 – $25.1 million ($338.4 million total)

3. Baywatch – $23.0 million ($23.0 million total)

4. Alien: Covenant – $13.1 million ($59.9 million total)

5. Everything Everything – $7.3 million ($22.7 million total)

6. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul – $5.8 million ($14.9 million total)

7. Snatched – $4.8 million ($41.1 million total)

8. King Arthur: Legend of the Sword – $4.1 million ($34.8 million total)

9.The Boss Baby – $2.3 million ($169.5 million total)

10.Beauty and the Beast – $1.9 million ($500.9 million total)

The Big Stories

Memorial Day weekend used to be one of the biggest friends to Hollywood. Kids are getting out plus an extra day off for adults. The summer box office used to kick off here. Over the last two years though it has been one of the few thorns in the side of current box office juggernaut, Walt Disney. Last year, Alice Through the Looking Glass bombed over this weekend and the year before Brad Bird’s anticipated, if mysterious, Tomorrowland, failed to connect with audiences. Since the diminishing returns on the reportedly “final adventure” of the Pirates of the Caribbean will likely be saved in international waters, it may turn out to be Paramount that will be hating on this holiday that was supposed to help save them from a year full of flops.

Yo Ho Yo Ho Four Billion Bucks For Thee

The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise reached four billion dollars across the globe thanks to a $285 million weekend. The second and fourth films made a cool billion each and the expectations that number five should be in store for at least $750 million worldwide are well founded. Once again, though, that total will be with little thanks to the overall ticket sales in North America. Charting the path of the sequels after the breakout success of The Curse of the Black Pearl, we saw Dead Man’s Chest jump to a $135.6 million opening weekend; the highest July opening at the time (and still fourth all-time.) At World’s End dropped to a $114.7 million opening (and was also nearly three hours long.) When Jerry Bruckheimer and Disney decided to expand the trilogy into further adventures for Jack Sparrow, Rob Marshall’s On Stranger Tides still managed a $90.1 million start. Those were all over three-day weekends.

Dead Men Tell No Tales only managed a $77 million start. Still, that just misses the top ten all-time Memorial Day weekend openings. (At World’s End is still #1 with $139.8 million.) What should give Disney a bit of pause over that start is that last year’s X-Men: Apocalypse rests in the ten slot (after a $79.8 million holiday) and only managed to come away with $155 million domestically. What should give them hope is that even that best-forgotten entry managed to break into the black thanks to its international earnings.

The budget on Pirates 5 is a bit higher ($230 million vs. $178 million) which means it is going to need close to the vicinity of $700 million just to break even. As mentioned earlier this does not appear to be an issue. On Stranger Tides grossed over $800 million internationally alone. The multiples for the last two Pirates films are a respectable 2.69 and 2.67 (for huge openers like those) and if that’s the case it is headed for about $180 million domestic. Seeing as how the international numbers have jumped up with every film, it seems unlikely it will fall below the $642 million earned overseas by Dead Man’s Chest. So far it has grossed an additional $208 million and should ease Disney’s holiday headache.

Paramount Afraid To Step Into the Light

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Wouldn’t you if you had an 18-month stretch like Paramount has had? Oscar nominations for Arrival and Fences aside, this is a box office column and nobody has been having as tough a go of it as the Mountain has. Focusing just on 2017 at the moment, they should at least be saved the embarrassment of xXx: The Return of Xander Cage being included amongst their flops. Sure the $44.8 million domestic doesn’t look good, but add $301 million overseas and you have a hit. In fact, it is their biggest estimated success since 2015’s Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation; bigger than Daddy’s Home, 10 Cloverfield Lane and Arrival. The success of those last three combined, though, couldn’t cover the losses of either Star Trek Beyond or Ben-Hur and not even close to the disasters of Monster Trucks and Ghost in the Shell.

That is where Baywatch was supposed to come in.

With a minimalist $69 million budget and the growing star power of Dwayne Johnson, this is a film that should have come close to doubling that budget at home and then get the remainder of its costs covered overseas. If it was any good. Don’t take my word for it though. 19% at Rotten Tomatoes makes it one of the worst-reviewed films of the year and so far the worst of the summer season. This didn’t sit well with Mr. Johnson, who took to Twitter to denounce the “glaring disconnect” between fans and critics who “showed up with their knives ready.” Funny, but that didn’t seem to be the case with the Jump Street fims, which got scores of 85% & 84%. Critics don’t mind television adaptations when they are good and funny. They do when they are not (see: CHiPs – 16%.) Johnson even touted the “B+” Cinemascore the film received, so let’s test the significance of that.

Taking out films such as The Other Guys and Be Cool, how has the Dwayne Johnson resume fared with audiences given the Cinemascore survey.

“A” (The Fate of the Furious, Moana, Furious 7, Fast & Furious 6, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, Fast Five, The Game Plan, Gridiron Gang)

“A-“ (Central Intelligence, San Andreas, Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, Tooth Fairy, The Rundown)

“B+” (Hercules, Race to Witch Mountain, Get Smart, Walking Tall)

“B” (Snitch, The Scorpion King)

“B-“ (Doom)

“C+” (Pain & Gain, Faster)

That is 13 films with an “A-“ or higher and 9 films with a “B+” or below. So Rock, can we at least agree that even “fans” with a small inkling of critical opinion have placed Baywatch in the bottom 41% of your resume? If you want a little more of that “glaring disconnect” between critics and fans, here is a sample of some of the films getting a “B+” combined with a Rotten Tomatoes score between 15-19%:

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Obsessed, Underworld: Blood Wars, Thunderbirds, Firewall, The Huntsman: Winter’s War, Monster-in-Law, The Wedding Planner, XXX: State of the Union, Underworld: Evolution, The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause, Garfield: The Movie, A Good Day to Die Hard, White Chicks

Welcome to the club, Baywatch. But I did mention this was a box office column, right? Plus how long can we really stay mad at Mr. Johnson? He’s in a terrible movie. We move on to his Presidential bid with Tom Hanks in 2020. Paramount, on the other hand, only have one other film this summer and that is Transformers: The Last Knight. That is likely to follow a similar path wih Pirates 5, so a little money will be coming back to the studio, but likely not with Baywatch. Films with a “B+” since 2001 to open between $18-19 million (based on the 3-day numbers) have an average multiple of 3.59. Take out highest and lowest scores and it’s still 3.09. That can still put Baywatch between $66-70 million; more Hercules than Central Intelligence. Can it find roughly another $135 million overseas? (It’s up to just $873,000 so far.) Gonna depend heavily on those fans listening to other fans who may just not be fans of this one.

Tales of the Top Ten

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 shows no signs of letting that top summer slot go. As I said weeks ago, no film is going to top it this summer. Not only has it surpassed the original’s gross and jumped over last week’s winner, Alien: Covenant, as expected, but in its fourth weekend also bested Baywatch. Admittedly with a little help from the Monday holiday. Last week I said it needed over a $23 million four-day weekend to maintain it’s $400+ million pace and it made $25 million. Whether it can make $34 million over the next two weekends will further determine its pace, but with it approaching $800 million worldwide, a billion dollars is going to come sooner than later. In related Disney news, Beauty and the Beast crossed the $500 million mark at the domestic box office this weekend

Last week’s marginal victor, Alien: Covenant, showed just how marginal it was in weekend two. Dropping nearly 71% over the weekend – even boosted by a holiday – means it is falling faster than even Prometheus (which dropped 59.4%.) $100 million in the U.S. is already off the table and now one has to wonder if it can even pass the 1979 & 1986 grosses of, arguably, the only good films in this franchise with $80 & $85 million. Covenant still has roughly $130 million to go before breaking even. Between that, Snatched and Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul, this is not how Fox wanted to begin its summer after the dual successes of Logan and The Boss Baby; the latter of which just had a sequel greenlit. It will be up to Captain Underpants next week and the warring Apes in July to help even out the season for the studio.

The good news for Warner Bros. is that Everything, Everything is looking like a winner for them. A nice hold gives the film over $25 million and on just a $10 million budget it looks headed for a minor victory. The bad news is that they are still reminded at just what a failure King Arthur: Legend of the Sword is. If you add up the profits this year for The Lego Batman Movie, Kong: Skull Island and, yes, even Zach Braff’s Going in Style that only covers roughly 21% of the losses on King Arthur. Add in the profits from last year’s Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and there is still roughly 11% of the loss unaccounted for. And that doesn’t even include losses on Fist Fight, CHiPs, and Unforgettable. If ever they needed some good press and even better word-of-mouth for Wonder Woman next week, it’s now. No wonder they moved up the embargo.

– Erik Childress can be heard each week evaluating box office on WGN Radio with Nick Digilio as well as on Business First AM with Angela Miles and his Movie Madness Podcast.

[box office figures via Box Office Mojo]

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Sports May 29, 2017

Top-Seeded Woman Defeated In First Round Of French Open

The French Open just started and already the women’s No. 1 seed is out. NPR’s Robert Siegel talks with Jon Wertheim of Sports Illustrated.

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

The French Open tennis championship began yesterday in Paris. And this year, the most celebrated clay court tournament is missing some big names. Here to tell us more is Jon Wertheim, executive editor with Sports Illustrated. He joins us on the line from Paris. Hi, John.

JON WERTHEIM: Hi, Robert.

SIEGEL: There’s been some exciting play in the first round for the women. The number one seed, Angelique Kerber, is out. And there was a heartwarming victory for the Czech Republic’s Petra Kvitova. Tell us about those two matches.

WETHEIM: Angelique Kerber was the top seed and shown the egress by about lunchtime on the first day. This is in keeping with women’s tennis these days which is wide open. That’s accelerated by some of the absences here, but the women’s field really wide open. But you’re right, the big heartwarming story, Patra Kvitova, who has won Wimbledon twice, a very accomplished player.

And she was stabbed in a home invasion in the Czech Republic in December, which was horrific. And she decided to try and come back here. She said she still can’t quite make a clenched fist, but she decided at the last minute to enter. And she played very well in her first round match and seems emotionally to sort of have made a nice comeback as well, so that’s been a heartwarming story here.

SIEGEL: On to one of the big absences – Serena Williams, winner of the Australian Open, is out due to pregnancy. How did her big sister Venus play?

WETHEIM: Venus, who was a few weeks away from turning 37 years old, is the 10th seed and really has to be considered a contender. Venus played quite well. And the fact that Serena is not here emotionally might be different, but I think that opens up the draw for Venus among so many other players.

SIEGEL: These are the headliners. Who are some lesser known women players who may have a shot this year?

WETHEIM: I liken the women’s draw to the, you know, the 2016 GOP slate of candidates. I mean, there are any of 15 names that you could choose from. And who knows how it will go? Simona Halep is a Romanian player who has never won a major, but people suspect it is her time.

American Madison Keys is a big heavy hitter. Clay is not her best surface, but she might be the most powerful ball striker this side of Serena. I’ve never seen an event like this where it’s just – you literally could pick 25 names and you might not get the winner. I mean, it is wide, wide open.

SIEGEL: Let’s turn to the men’s side now. Roger Federer won the first big tournament of the year, the Australian Open, but he’s skipping the French Open, saying scheduling will be the key to my longevity going forward. What is that supposed to mean?

WETHEIM: The clay is always going to be the toughest surface for him, especially as he gets on in years. And Wimbledon really represents his best chance to win another major. He won the Australian Open in January and has had this terrific year so far, but I think he really wants to peak in time for Wimbledon and the U.S. Open then later in the summer.

And I think the thinking was that clay is so demanding, and his body can be so temperamental at this age that sort of the risk-reward didn’t make sense. And so he is skipping this major entirely.

SIEGEL: Rafael Nadal, the so-called king of clay, advanced easily today, as did Novak Djokovic who’s the reigning French Open champion. Are they still the favorites this year?

WETHEIM: They are absolutely the favorites. Nadal is far and away the favorite to win here for the 10th time. Djokovic is the defending champion. He’s probably the second favorite, then a long, long staircase down to other contenders. As wide open as the women’s draw is, the men’s draw looks really to be a two-man race.

SIEGEL: Djokovic made news by hiring tennis legend Andre Agassi to be his coach for this year’s tournament. Any sense of Agassi’s impact or what he’ll offer as a coach?

WETHEIM: I think that’s a really an inspired move by Djokovic. Djokovic has been slumping lately. And Agassi, of course, is known for this career resuscitation right around the same age. He’s a smart guy. He’s a measured guy. He’s a very good communicator. I think it’s really an inspired move by Djokovic. I’m impressed that he was able to talk Agassi into it.

SIEGEL: Jon Wertheim, executive editor of Sports Illustrated at the French Open. Thanks so much.

WETHEIM: Anytime. Thanks, Robert.

(SOUNDBITE OF KHRUANGBIN’S “MASTER OF LIFE”)

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

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Business May 29, 2017

Trump Hopes To Lure Companies Back To The U.S.With Lower Tax Rates

A key part of President Trump’s tax plan is to repatriate corporate profits held overseas back to the U.S. With the lure of lower corporate rates, the idea is that companies will free up overseas earnings and instead invest in jobs and equipment in the U.S. A similar scheme was tried during the administration of George W. Bush, but companies used most of the money on stock buybacks or to pay dividends to shareholders.

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

American companies have stashed an estimated $2.6 trillion in foreign profits overseas to avoid paying corporate taxes in the U.S. President Trump wants to cut the tax rate to encourage companies to bring that money here. He says it would boost investment and create jobs. As NPR’s John Ydstie reports, history suggests otherwise.

JOHN YDSTIE, BYLINE: It’s a pile of money worth more than the yearly economic output of countries like France and the United Kingdom. Under U.S. law, companies owe a 35 percent tax on those foreign profits, but they can defer the tax by holding the money overseas. President Trump’s tax overhaul proposal aims to get it back, as Treasury Secretary Mnuchin explained in late April.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

STEVEN MNUCHIN: We will have a one-time tax on overseas profits which will bring back trillions of dollars that are offshore to be invested here in the United States to purchase capital and to create jobs.

YDSTIE: During the campaign, President Trump said it would be a phenomenal thing.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: By taxing it at 10 percent instead of 35 percent, all of this money will come roaring back into our country, and lots of good things will start to happen.

YDSTIE: But it turns out it’s not a new idea. Back in 2004, under President George W. Bush, Washington enacted a similar tax break that promised the same things.

C FRITZ FOLEY: It’s called the Homeland Investment Act. It was also referred to as the American Job Creation Act.

YDSTIE: Harvard Business School professor C. Fritz Foley says that law temporarily reduced the tax on foreign profits to just 5.25 percent. And it’s specified that the repatriated money be used only for investments in the United States. Five years later, Foley co-authored a report that found the so-called tax holiday did not result in new investments and new jobs.

FRITZ FOLEY: We found that the money that was repatriated was not associated with increased capital expenditures, increased employment or increased research and development.

YDSTIE: Instead, Foley says, the money was used to pay dividends to shareholders or buy back shares in companies. Foley says there was probably some economic benefit in that as shareholders reinvested their payouts or increased their consumption. So the tax holiday did not live up to its billing, Foley says, but it did provide one more sign that the U.S. corporate tax system needs to be fixed.

FRITZ FOLEY: We badly need tax reform, international tax reform here in the United States. Our system puts our companies at a disadvantage. And this holiday was a temporary relief from some of the distortions that our tax system imposes.

YDSTIE: Joseph Rosenberg of the Tax Policy Center says there is broad agreement that corporate tax policy needs an overhaul.

JOSEPH ROSENBERG: Unfortunately, that’s about where the agreement ends.

YDSTIE: In fact, Republicans and business groups are fighting among themselves right now over how to proceed. Foley and Rosenberg agree that a lower tax on profits currently stashed overseas would make sense as part of broader tax reform, but Rosenberg is concerned that broad reform might fail, and the temporary tax holiday might survive.

ROSENBERG: That would be unfortunate because it really does not address the fundamental problems of the corporate tax system and in some ways makes it much worse.

YDSTIE: Because if it did unfold that way, it would reinforce the notion among companies that it’s a good idea to build another hoard of cash overseas and just wait for the next tax holiday. John Ydstie, NPR News, Washington.

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Health May 29, 2017

Cash-Strapped Seniors Turn To Assisted Living Centers In Mexico

Some seniors are moving to Mexico for assisted living care. Costs at these facilities are much cheaper, but family members worry about the distance and their loved one’s access to medical care.

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

People are living longer, which means they need their retirement savings to stretch further than before. Some retirees are choosing an unusual option to make their money last longer. They are moving to assisted living centers in Mexico. From member station KPBS in San Diego, reporter Claire Trageser here has the story.

CLAIRE TRAGESER, BYLINE: A visit to Serena Senior Care isn’t your typical over the river and through the woods.

(SOUNDBITE OF TRAIN HORN)

TRAGESER: To get there, you have to cross the U.S.-Mexico border and wind your way through Tijuana traffic. Eventually, you’ll find a long dirt road in the small beach town of Rosarito. When you arrive, you’ll find a typical senior assisted living residence – private rooms, a small gym and a garden.

PETER FOWLER: That’s sugarcane or pineapple.

TRAGESER: Peter Fowler, a 93-year-old World War II veteran is strolling among the plants.

FOWLER: I’m very lucky ’cause they – not only in one piece, but I think my marbles are all OK.

TRAGESER: He’s from the U.S. but has been at Serena since it opened 10 years ago. He says the decision came down to lower costs.

FOWLER: I was running out of money before I ran out of month.

TRAGESER: That was before Fowler moved to Mexico.

FOWLER: Here, the cost of living is so good, I now run out of month before I run out of money.

TRAGESER: This retirement center caters to Americans looking for cheaper options. About half of its residents are from the U.S. It costs about $1,500 a month for full-time care. In California, the average cost is $5,000 a month.

SUSAN CUZIC: I started looking around, and the price was undoable.

TRAGESER: Susan Cuzic decided to move her mother, who has Alzheimer’s, here two years ago. It was a difficult decision because visiting from San Diego now takes more effort.

CUZIC: It is a bit, you know, more to drive. And this isn’t going to be an option for people living in like the New York or Wisconsin or something like that.

TRAGESER: But Cuzic says the care her mother receives south of the border is excellent.

CUZIC: The Mexican culture really reveres older people. They are treated with a lot of respect.

BRENDA SHORKEND: I’ve heard of people who’ve been very, very satisfied with the care there, and they think it’s possibly better than in some places in the States. And I’ve heard of people where it’s been a disaster.

TRAGESER: Brenda Shorkend is an elder care consultant outside Los Angeles. She cautions assisted living centers are regulated differently in Mexico, and the transition to another country can be a huge challenge.

SHORKEND: The language is different. The food is different. It’s hard enough moving from home to an assisted living. So to do that to another country, it can be very, very confusing for people.

TRAGESER: Shorkend says the biggest hurdle is that most U.S. seniors have Medicare and that doesn’t pay healthcare providers in Mexico. That turned out to be a problem for Peter Fowler, the World War II veteran.

FOWLER: Because I had a burst appendix.

TRAGESER: When that happened, he had to cross the border in a special lane for medical emergencies. He also travels an hour each way every month to pick up his prescriptions, but Fowler says he enjoys those outings.

FOWLER: And on the way, I stop off at a place called El Yogurt Place in Tijuana. Beautiful eggs benedict, oh, my goodness. I look forward to that every month.

TRAGESER: For Fowler, a longer life doesn’t mean an independent life, but living in Mexico means he can afford to spend the rest of his days in comfort and dignity. For NPR News, I’m Claire Trageser in Rosarito, Mexico.

(SOUNDBITE OF ELLIOTT BROOD’S “VALLEY TOWN”)

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May 29, 2017

Box Office Report: 'Pirates’ Sails Through International Waters While ‘Baywatch’ Is Beached

Top-Seeded Woman Defeated In First Round Of French Open

Trump Hopes To Lure Companies Back To The U.S.With Lower Tax Rates

Cash-Strapped Seniors Turn To Assisted Living Centers In Mexico